With the economy getting fairly rough and the games industry getting hit with a multitude of closures and layoffs, it's no surprise that game companies have reverted to "make a quick buck mode" these days. This has caused more than a few annoying trends to pop up within the industry whether it be on the publisher side or the developer side. Without further ado, here is a list of the top ten recent annoying trends in the games industry.

Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN managed to pull one of the largest warez scene topsites offline yesterday. The servers of Swan, formerly known as ATS, were unplugged by their hosting provider WorldStream. The provider acted based on evidence provided by BREIN, and also handed over the servers to this private outfit. The police were not involved in the takedown, but instead it was the result of information allegedly provided to BREIN by a rogue member.

The British Recorded Music Industry (BPI) released figures for music sales in 2010, sparking a debate over whether or not piracy is playing a role, or at least a significant one. According to BPI, combined 2010 digital and physical album sales declined 7 percent overall in volume to 119.9 million. This, the organization says, is due to illegal...

With Green Hornet in theaters this weekend to kick off yet another year of superhero obsession, we put on our lab coats and started crunching numbers to try and figure out how it's going. The answers may surprise you.

Apparently, honey buns (yes, those gooey, sticky, doughy sponges covered in cellophane) are more popular with Florida prisoners than cigarettes and Coca-Cola. They have fundamentally become the prison currency of choice.

For years, Redbox has been flying high with DVD kiosks that offered cut-rate movie rentals for $1 a day. But Redbox might want to launch a digital rental service soon, before it sees its DVD kiosk business affected by Netflix and other services that allow consumers to rent and purchase movies from the comfort of their own homes.

BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates' call for China's military to communicate better with its civilian leaders underscores the policy disconnect in Beijing and raises questions over

2011 is a big year for Ronald Reagan fans, being the centennial of his February 6 birth in Tampico, Ill. But youngest son Ron Reagan is spoiling the good cheer with a new book that suggests the Gipper suffered from Alzheimer's disease while in the White House.

She needed about 800 hours to do enough laundry to get the lint, and 200 hours to recreate the 14-foot-long, 4-foot tall mural. Ripley's Believe It or Not! plans to put it on display at one of its museums.

Apple confirmed today that it is nearing the 10 billion download milestone for the iOS App Store. The Cupertino company just launched its countdown page and is at approximately 9.7 billion downloads at the writing of this post.

Los Angeles marijuana dispensaries are abuzz about an email pitch from a company that says -- sort of -- that a pro-cannabis celebrity endorsement from someone "like Snoop Dogg" could increase business. Many are wondering if the business proposal is real.

The Montreal Biosphere is a stunning dome-shaped museum dedicated to educating people on the importance of water and the environment. It originally started out as the US pavilion at the 1967 World's Fair, Expo 67. It wasn't until 1990 that it was turned into an interactive eco-museum.